Treasury nominee Janet Yellen to say U.S. does not seek out weaker greenback: WSJ

(Reuters) – Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden’s select to take more than the U.S. Treasury, is expected to affirm the United States’ commitment to marketplace-set currency fees when she testifies on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, the Wall Avenue Journal reported.

The Treasury secretary nominee will make distinct at a Senate confirmation listening to that the United States does not look for a weaker dollar, the newspaper reported on.wsj.com/35NaV8W on Sunday, citing Biden transition officials common with her preparing.

“The price of the U.S. greenback and other currencies must be decided by marketplaces. Markets modify to reflect variants in economic efficiency and normally aid adjustments in the international economic climate,” Yellen will say according to the report, if asked about the incoming administration’s dollar coverage.

“The United States does not seek out a weaker currency to achieve competitive gain,” she is prepared to say, according to the WSJ. “We must oppose makes an attempt by other nations to do so.”

A Biden transition staff formal did not reply to a ask for for remark about Yellen’s testimony. Biden, a Democrat, requires office environment on Wednesday.

The coverage outlined by Yellen would be a return to a classic posture just after Republican President Donald Trump railed in opposition to the dollar’s strength for many years, declaring it gave other countries a competitive benefit.

It also will come with investors closely quick bucks – with the benefit of bets in opposition to the buck the highest in just about a ten years – partly in anticipation of U.S. trade and price range deficits widening even more beneath the new administration.

“(Yellen) is sort of signaling a palms-off strategy, which is reverting to what experienced customarily been the scenario right before Trump,” said Financial institution of Singapore analyst Moh Siong Sim, who figures the greenback could proceed to drop.

“I think the greenback and economical marketplaces will be a lot less of a concentrate, in terms of verbal rhetoric, for the Treasury secretary and the key emphasis will be obtaining coverage implemented in conditions of fiscal aid.”

The greenback has bounced in modern months but suffered its worst annual reduction considering that 2017 past year. Yellen, who served as head of the U.S. Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, is envisioned to gain affirmation in the Senate and will likely be just one of the first Biden Cupboard picks to be verified.